Red Bull will address F1 car weaknesses with ‘B-spec’ RB16

Red Bull will use the remaining races of the 2020 Formula 1 season to fully understand the deficiencies of its current car before ironing out any weaknesses with a ‘B-spec’ RB16 next year.

Team boss Christian Horner was left encouraged by Red Bull’s performance during the Eifel Grand Prix weekend, as Max Verstappen came the closest he has to beating Mercedes in qualifying this year and finished just 4.5 seconds behind race-winner Lewis Hamilton in the race.

Red Bull is confident it is beginning to close the gap to F1’s current benchmark Mercedes, with the German manufacturer confirming it stopped developing its dominant W11 "a long time ago" in order to focus on next year.

“It felt like we were a step closer today,” Horner said after last week’s race at the Nurburgring.

“They were areas of the circuit here where we were equal to or better than the Mercedes. Obviously Turn 13/14 seemed to be our weak spot in comparison to them at this circuit, so let’s see.”

Horner hopes Red Bull will have the chance to rival Mercedes at some of the unfamiliar circuits F1 is racing at during the final six races of the season, before looking to refine the issues it is yet to understand with its current car in time for next season.

“We’ve got Portimao, we’ve got Istanbul, we’ve got Imola – they’re all circuits that will be quite interesting for us,” he explained.

“We’re keen to finish the season with positive momentum, having understood quite a few of the issues that we’ve had with RB16, so that that’s addressed going into RB16B.”